Viewpoint: Memes worth remembering

During our production hours in the office, many of us enjoy making the rounds on various websites and showing each other the latest YouTube videos and memes.

It seems like everything in social media news has a short shelf life. Mere weeks after the “Harlem Shake” video hit YouTube, it ballooned and declined in popularity. The 30-second dance video became “so last week” almost instantly as another trendy video took its place.

Such is the nature of the Internet and trends. They wouldn’t be trends if they lasted forever. Some memes just fall by the wayside, but we as an editorial staff want to remember them. Here is our list of memes that should never be buried in the graveyards of the Internet.

1. “Y U NO” meme. This is the creepy-faced guy holding his hands in the air and acting desperate. “Ryan Gosling Y U NO DATE ME!?” is a favorite. Along with “Monday Y U NO Friday?!” When it first broke in 2010, it appeared everywhere on Tumblr and Memebase.com, two popular websites for meme sharing.

2. “Condescending Willy Wonka” meme. This particular meme had a very short shelf life, but was popular on websites like Pinterest. Weber State University hailed the popularity of this meme last year, using it in advertisements for Homecoming 2012. “Oh, you wear Toms? Tell me what it’s like to be the savior of Africa.” This meme spiked in popularity in the spring of 2012.

3. “The most interesting man in the world” meme. Using a simple formula of “I don’t always (blank), but when I do, I (blank).” First appearing in 2007, the meme’s popularity has seen sporadic patterns and is still in use today, although it was most popular in 2010, according to Knowyourmeme.com.

4. “Ermahgerd” meme. Originally known as the “Berks” meme on Reddit.com, “ermahgerd” first started circulating the Internet in March of 2012, but didn’t reach its peak until August later that year. The original image is of a young woman holding Goosebumps books and making a funny face. The captions are phonetically written, mimicking a speech impediment caused by orthodontic retainers. Many animal variations have been created with the “ermahgerd” template.

5. “Overly attached girlfriend” meme. Spiking in June of 2012 from an original YouTube video, the meme depicts a female with large eyes and a big smile. Captions ranging from “You ate at Wendy’s? Who is Wendy?” to “Hey, I just met you and this is crazy, but I have your number and I want your babies.” Sometimes referred to as the “clingy girlfriend” meme, captions on all versions portray her as the stereotypical overprotective and clingy girlfriend.

Just because these gems of the Internet are in the past doesn’t mean the laughter they induced and the millions of minutes spent clicking and reposting will ever be forgotten.

In 1965, Congress passed the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, which required tobacco companies to issue a surgeon general’s warning on cigarette labels, stating that smoking may be hazardous […]